An Atheist Mothers Depressing Journey With the Boy Scouts

[NeoGreen]

7. Your broad brush leads me to guess that you don't have any...

...direct experience with a BSA unit, or scouting activity in general:

Here is a visual list of the primary activities in scouting:



Show me the merit badge for command and control, following orders, unit cohesion, or chain of command?

Does does Nature fit in with a military mindset?

Is Bird Study merit badge designed to indoctrinate scouts on how to conduct communication by carrier pigeon?

How about Soil and Water Conservation,

Is this merit badge earned before or after you bomb the farmers field?

And is Citizenship in the Community

a treatise on how to set up local puppet governments?

A quote from Baden-Powell in regards to applying military discipline in scouting:

“As the camping season is now upon us, I may say that one or two of the camps which I have already seen have been unfortunately on wrong lines, though others were very satisfactory. I strongly advise small camps of about half a dozen Patrols; each Patrol in a separate tent and on separate ground (as suggested in Scouting for Boys), so that the Scouts do not feel themselves to be part of a big herd, but members of independent responsible units.

Large camps prevent scout-work and necessitate military training; and one which I visited the other day, though exceedingly well carried out as a bit of Army organization, appealed to me very little, because not only was it entirely on military lines, but the Patrols — the essence of our system — were broken up to fit the members into the tents. Patrols should be kept intact under all circumstances. ”

Scouting seeks to develop citizenship (not patriotism) and individual growth (not military discipline).

If you dislike is specific to the BSA, then maybe you could look into BPSA (https://www.bpsa-us.org/).